About us

  • Natalie Vargas Nedvetsky is a pianist, creator, and innovator at the intersection of music, literature, and artificial intelligence. Based in NYC, she is the Head of Social Media for IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library), the world’s largest online digital library of public-domain music scores. At IMSLP, she leads initiatives such as Practice Room Breaks, an artist interview series, collaborates with renowned classical artists across the US and Europe, and leads the creation of engaging content across all social platforms. As an AI engineer, Natalie developed Ludwig, an AI assistant for IMSLP (if you’re an IMSLP subscriber, you can check Ludwig out here), and she currently works as an AI Conversational Designer at JustAnswer, where she is building intelligent pathways connecting users with experts in fields such as medicine, law, and technology.

    Natalie is also the co-artistic director of Politics and Prokofiev, a multimedia concert series founded in February 2025 that intersects history, literature and classical music. During the pandemic, she founded and directed the Literary Music Series, a performing arts organization that celebrated the fusion of art forms through live-streamed performances and intimate salon-style concerts.

    With over 275k followers across social media, Natalie creates videos championing classical music, music education, and spoken word. She was featured in her own segment on Fox 5’s Good Day New York in February 2023.

    Originally from Chicago, Natalie studied piano performance at The Juilliard School and creative writing at Columbia University in the City of New York. She recently earned her master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University/Peabody Institute. A laureate of several international piano competitions, she has performed in iconic venues across the US and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Concert Noble Brussels. In her solo piano performances, she blends poetry and piano repertoire to craft rich and immersive artistic experiences.

    Natalie’s first poetry collection, I Quiet the World, was released in August 2020.

  • Hailed as an “outstanding cellist with a gloriously expressive sound, fearless technique and an innate musical sensibility” and praised for his “ridiculous virtuosity”, Jakob Giovanni Taylor is a recipient of Yale’s Aldo Parisot Prize for gifted cellists who show promise for a concert career. A recent graduate of the Yale School of Music, he has recently completed his Masters of Musical Arts under the esteemed cellist of the Emerson Quartet, Paul Watkins. This fall, he will begin his Artists Diploma at the Colburn School in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Clive Greensmith.

    Born and raised in New York City, Jakob began playing the cello at the age of three. His dedication to sharing music with people from all walks of life has led him around the globe; with engagements in the United States, Cuba, Europe and the United Kingdom. As a soloist, Jakob has performed at venues such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Jordan Hall, and Woolsey Hall.

    Jakob’s passion for chamber music has allowed him to collaborate with artists such as Robert McDonald, Wu Han, Ida Kavafian, Ettore Causa, Marcy Rosen, Steven Tenenbom, Hye-Jin Kim and Matthew Lipman.

    He has spent his summers working and performing at programs such as Music@Menlo’s International Program, Ravinia Steans Institute, Four Seasons Spring Workshop, the Taos School of Music, Music Academy of the West, among others.

    Recognizing the importance of new music, he has premiered new works by composers such as Paul Cantelon and Paul Miller and has worked closely with rising composers such as Caroline Shaw and Timo Andres.

    An avid proponent of music education, Jakob has worked as an educator alongside prominent institutions such as Yale University, the Boston Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Lighthouse School for the Blind.

    In 2025, to further satisfy this lifelong ambition to ignite the public spark toward classical repertoire; Jakob, described by an audience member as “a rockstar with the soul of an 18th Century Maestro” along with his colleague - pianist and writer Natalie Nedvetsky, launched "Politics & Prokofiev". A new chamber music series that aims to elevate the thunderous excitement that only live music in intimate settings can bring. Each event in the series creates social engagement with and around classical music, not unlike the secret sessions of underground Pop performances in their prime, captivating a youthful audience and perpetuating conversation around the arts.

    Jakob received his Masters of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music studying with Desmond Hoebig. He has also studied at the New England Conservatory, and at The Juilliard School. He was the recipient of the Harvey R. Russel Scholarship and Irving S. Gilmore Fellowship at Yale University. There, he recently performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of Leonard Slatkin as the winner of the 2022 Yale School of Music, Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition. He is also the winner of the 2020 Shepherd School of Music concerto competition.